Taking Photos of the New Bathroom
We've been enjoying the finished and installed sink for a couple weeks now, and I've been so excited to share. The hold up was I didn't have a lens that could capture the whole sink!
Lately I've just been photographing projects with my old Canon Rebel XTi DSLR camera. I have a pretty standard EF 50mm f/1:1.8 II lens and a nicer mid-range zoom lens (EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM) that was a bit of a splurge last year. I've been planning to invest in a nicer camera body this year as well as a good wide angle lens.
Luckily Canon reached out about to me about working with them on their new 'Bring It' campaign. They gifted me with a new EOS Rebel T5i (which has great video capabilities - I was excited about that! Stay tuned for some fun DIY videos!) and their brand-spanking-new wide angle lens, the EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM. I was SO excited to try out the new lens on our bathroom sink! Finally a lens that could capture the full space, tight angles and all!
I thought it would be fun to show how different lenses capture the same space. Here's the sink, shot with the new EOS Rebel T5i camera and my old EF 50mm lens. I love 50mm shots. These are such affordable lenses, I think everyone with a DSLR should have one! They're especially handy for portraits and photographing kids. Every shot will be sharp and bright with a 50mm!
Here's the same shot, but using my EF 24-105mm lens, zoomed out as far as it will go.
And here's the new wide angle lens! Ta-dah!!!! Look at that beauty! What's most impressive to me about this lens, besides how well it does in low-light situations, is that it shows almost no warping. There's none of that fish eye look that sometimes happens with wide angles.
On the other side of the room, we hung two Andrew Wyeth prints. Here's the 50mm version:
The mid-range lens:
And the wide-angle again from the same spot. So pretty!
I've never taken a photography class, which makes me really appreciate how user-friendly Canon's lenses are! I think it's so cool to see what a difference in perspective there is here between the three lenses!
I was shocked to learn that the new wide angle lens is less than $300! I don't know how I lived without one for so long.
Also, I was surprised at how much I love the new Rebel T5i camera. There are all sorts of amazing features that make it really easy to shoot in manual or program (P) mode, which is sort of the step between automatic mode and manual. The large display screen makes it so easy to preview how a photo will look with different settings before you take the photo (!), which takes out a ton of guess work for those of us who are not pros!
One of my favorite features of the Rebel T5i is the amazing touch screen display! With the swipe of my finger I can scroll through my playback and I can zoom in and out, just like on an iPhone.
Another favorite thing is a setting that releases the shutter and takes a photo when you tap on the LCD screen! It makes for a very smooth and steady exposure if you don't want to set up a tripod and use a remote.
I was SO happy to try out this camera, and especially the new wide angle lens. It's a major game-changer for me. I'm really looking forward to sharing a full house tour with wide shots so you guys can get a better sense of layout going forward!
A big thank you to Canon for sponsoring this post! You can browse Canon's amazing lenses here. Thank you for supporting our sponsors!! :)
An Update On My DIY Tufting Technique!
Remember this cute little magenta velvet headboard I made for the girls' room when we lived in the loft? I finally got around to tufting the matching twin headboard before the Domino shoot so we could make the headboards the sides of a daybed for the playroom.
Like I've mentioned a million times before, we were in such a hurry to get everything done. In an attempt to make this project go a little faster (tufting isn't all that hard... but it can be time consuming), I realized that I could completely bypass the whole threading-a-button-through-the-headboard-holes thing by just carefully screwing a wide-headed screw down in through the hole I had made in the foam.
The only potentially tricky part is making sure you're putting the screw in the exact right place. I ended up screwing in pilot holes before hand, so I all had to do was find the pilot hole (blindly) with the point of my screw before using the drill to put in the screw.
It's important to use screws that aren't too long (unless you wont see the back at all) and that have a wide enough head to hold back all the fabric from the tuft. I used a little bit of high-loft batting and linen in the same magenta color to back the headboard and cover any of the screw holes.
This little trick saved me literally hours of labor time! And it looks great! I just used fabritac to glue in the buttons into the tufts and I think now it would be hard for even me to tell which headboard was the one I spent more time on! :)
Oh! I also wanted to mention another little tufting trick I discovered a week or two ago. My sister, Ali, is about to have a sweet baby girl (yay!!) and she wanted to redo her bedroom before the baby came. We made a tufted headboard and the velvet we were using was a little thick and it was getting tricky to make the fabric not look too lumpy. I cut deep grooves into the foam and that made a little pocket for the fabric to sit into AND it made it super, super easy to get the diamond shape perfect and nearly wrinkle-free every single time.
Just a few little tips in case you're hoping to tackle a tufting project soon! :)
Like I've mentioned a million times before, we were in such a hurry to get everything done. In an attempt to make this project go a little faster (tufting isn't all that hard... but it can be time consuming), I realized that I could completely bypass the whole threading-a-button-through-the-headboard-holes thing by just carefully screwing a wide-headed screw down in through the hole I had made in the foam.
It's important to use screws that aren't too long (unless you wont see the back at all) and that have a wide enough head to hold back all the fabric from the tuft. I used a little bit of high-loft batting and linen in the same magenta color to back the headboard and cover any of the screw holes.
This little trick saved me literally hours of labor time! And it looks great! I just used fabritac to glue in the buttons into the tufts and I think now it would be hard for even me to tell which headboard was the one I spent more time on! :)
Oh! I also wanted to mention another little tufting trick I discovered a week or two ago. My sister, Ali, is about to have a sweet baby girl (yay!!) and she wanted to redo her bedroom before the baby came. We made a tufted headboard and the velvet we were using was a little thick and it was getting tricky to make the fabric not look too lumpy. I cut deep grooves into the foam and that made a little pocket for the fabric to sit into AND it made it super, super easy to get the diamond shape perfect and nearly wrinkle-free every single time.
One Ottoman, Three Ways
I feel like I can't leave Target without buying a pouf or an ottoman or a basket or some other adorable item that is practically impossible to pass up at Target's low prices! A recent purchase was two of these little storage ottomans from the new Room Essentials line. They are upholstered in the most perfect color of persimmon red felt and they have the cutest little accent of natural stained bent plywood that makes them look very Eames-y and vintage.
I love little ottomans like these because they fit in tight spaces and make for perfect extra seating in a pinch. We had a big family party at our house this weekend and the extra seats came in handy! I love that they look at home pretty much where ever they're sitting. So let's take a little trip with my new red stools and try them out all around my living room!
I love them as a pair in front of the fireplace (or how cute would they be in front of a bed?).
I love little ottomans like these because they fit in tight spaces and make for perfect extra seating in a pinch. We had a big family party at our house this weekend and the extra seats came in handy! I love that they look at home pretty much where ever they're sitting. So let's take a little trip with my new red stools and try them out all around my living room!
I love them as a pair in front of the fireplace (or how cute would they be in front of a bed?).
I like them layered in front of a side table too.
The interior storage compartment makes it easy to tuck in a couple of throws. You know, just in case you're a weirdo like me that can somehow manage to get cold even when it's 115 degrees outside.
I also like one of the stools tucked under our antique secretary desk. Isn't the poppy red color pretty with the blue velvet sofa?
It seems like a lot of people buy vintage or antique secretaries and don't know quite what to do with the desk areas. Do you keep a chair there all the time, etc.? I think a little stool or ottoman is the perfect way to keep a desk seat accessible without taking up a huge footprint in the room.
What's your favorite way to use little benches in your home? Have you found any Target treasures lately? Last weekend I scored a really great basket for one of my indoor trees and some cool hooks for a mudroom makeover that's coming your way later this week! :)
The (Mostly Done!) Kitchen
Kitchen Tour (right after we closed on the house)
Open Shelving Inspiration (before I decided on the single shelf look)
The Rough Initial Plans (only about 50% of this ended up happening!)
After painting out the floors and the brick range surround
A big recap of thoughts and plans and details on the Shaker-style cabinet DIY
Black concrete counters DIY and single shelf inspiration
I finally decided though that we would just work with the existing layout and cabinets and use my favorite concrete overlay technique to make this kitchen work for us until we can do a big upgrade.
I'm still hoping for a full kitchen reno sometime down the road, but at least for now, the space feels clean and bright! DIY wins again! :) Here's a little more on what we ended up doing and where I bought everything...
One of the splurges of the reno was this farmhouse sink from Signature Hardware. We had some sort of funny dimensions to work with and this one was the least expensive of the options that would fit right. I love the clean lines! I also bought the faucet from Signature Hardware and had a local plating company (Papago Plating) strip off the lacquer finish. I love it.
The black concrete counters are holding up really well and I love the dramatic look. The waterfall edge is so pretty, and I think with the creamy white cabinet color and the lighter gray on the floors (Ben Moore's Galveston Gray), the black is not too dark for the space.
My favorite part though is the little shelf we built with pine boards that I covered in concrete too. I hung them with simple black gloss brackets from Home Deport with brass screws. I wanted the brackets to just sort of go away, which they do! The shelves are super sturdy though too. We have all sorts of heavy things on top (tons of plates on one side and a 20-lb cactus planter on the other!) and it's sturdy as can be.
We made a few changes to the lighting too. Just getting those super frilly and outdated pieces out was a huge improvement!
We took down the too-low ceiling fan and the chandelier over the table area and replaced them with two of these lanterns I picked up for a song in New Jersey before we moved. I painted the pink parts white and sprayed the sleeves gold.
I think a little white paint and round bulbs can make any fixture prettier! :)
I got three of these brass tilt cone sconces from Cedar and Moss. They are beautiful. I really love them and think they are a steal for the price!!
One of my favorite little details of the space ended up being the cabinet hardware! I really wanted something a little different. I searched high and low and finally, finally stumbled on these white milk glass bin pulls. They are so perfect. They just sort of glow! We used brass screws to install them to the drawer fronts, so brass accent is there, but it's subtle.
It's (clearly) not perfect. We did this project fast and furious, but the improvement to me is huge. We are loving it and are so happy we could make the room work for us for as long as it takes to save up for the kitchen of our dreams. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)